Expect The Unexpected
by PeanutAngel
Summary: Childhood friends that just didn't seem to grasp the whole concept of 'love'. She loved him, but she just couldn't tolerate his stupidity sometimes. With Cheryl, all little Ruf could do was expect the unexpected.


Expect the Unexpected

Disclaimer – Don't own it, never will.

A/N: Yet another request! I was actually shocked to find how few fans there seemed to be for this couple.

They need more love, people! :D

This was actually inspired by the song "Love Like Woe" by "The Ready Set". :3

* * *

Cheryl Rainsworth sat at a table on her balcony, looking over some official documents from Pandora. Her eyes scanned over in a rather bored manner, not exactly pleased by how much work she seemingly had as of late. Sighing softly, she threw the papers down onto the white-clothed table and looked out to the sunset. It offered a myriad of colors, ranging from navy blue to a vibrant pink. Offering the scene a bit of a smile, the woman rested her wrinkled hands in her lap that was covered by the light blue fabric of her dress. It seemed to be a rare experience for her to be able to sit back and enjoy the scenery like this, so she was reveling in the moment.

That is until a certain someone just had to appear.

"Lady Rainsworth," a silky voice almost seemed to purr. The woman didn't even bother to look away to catch a glance of the person that had spoken. After all, she knew that voice all too well…which could be perceived as both a good and bad thing.

"Ruf, what brings you here at this hour?" Cheryl asked quietly, her hand already itching to pull out her fan to whack the man on the head for disturbing her.

The red-haired man seemed to shrug nonchalantly, although it was wasted on the lady who wasn't facing him. Eyes narrowed, Rufus Barma moved forward a little more, coughing in an attempt to capture Cheryl's attention. When he was blatantly ignored, he decided answering the woman's question was probably the only option. "I've come just to see you, my dear lady."

"Why is it that every time I see you nowadays you get even cheesier? You weren't this bad when we were just children."

"C-cheesy?" The head of the Barma Household asked, stunned for once. He had never heard his old friend use that word, and not in such a context.

"Yes, and I'm quite sure that if you ever even bothered to say that to a younger woman, even she would think the same thing that I do." Finally Lady Cheryl turned to look at Rufus, who was now standing there, one eye twitching. "My, what an unattractive face…"

Rufus finally gave a bit of a chuckle before looking back up and quirking one eyebrow at his long time friend. "May I at least ask how you're doing…?" He trailed off, supposing that she was already angry with him and that he had no right in even staying there any longer. And oh boy, should he have left while he still had the chance.

"Actually, I have a favor to ask of you, dear Ruf." The head of the Rainsworth's house smile made the man almost want to take an instinctive step backward, and away from danger. Something inside him was screaming to flee, instead of trying to fight this one out. Yet he had known this older woman for the majority of his life, and felt that he had at least a tiny measure of safety from her perilous fan.

"And what might that be?" He asked carefully, his face no longer betraying any of his emotions. Now was the time to see if he could figure out this woman a tad bit more. For so long her unpredictability had caused the red-haired man to want to pull out his precious locks of hair in frustration. Just when the head of the Barma household thought he could predict what Cheryl Rainsworth would do, she'd go ahead and surprise him again, as if doing it just to upset him. Frankly, he was convinced that this woman was a spawn of Satan, sent to destroy him. And that granddaughter of hers…he was sure that she too would be just as frightening as the woman before him when she was fully grown. What a frightening thought indeed. Rufus Barma had to admit though that he once pursued Cheryl and even forced Liam to become practically a slave of hers for two years just to know her response to his love letters. Yet when that failed to even gain a positive response, he had dropped it, deciding that his dear friend would continue to elude him.

Finally she began to speak again, effectively knocking Rufus out of his revere. "Would you forge my signature and complete this paperwork?" Her sickly sweet tone and smile pretty much said to the man that if he tried to back out, he'd regret it dearly. So without a word, the red-haired man sat down and quietly began scratching away at the papers, his face blank, but his mind a tad bit annoyed. _Why me? _With that thought in tow, by the end of the large stack of paperwork, he had a bit of a grimace on his face.

"Oh surely doing that little thing for me wasn't too bad?" Lady Rainsworth asked with a chuckle, bemused that her old friend looked practically like a pouting three year old by this point. My, she hadn't seen that cute face of his in such a long time. The sun was finally about to go down and darkness was already spreading when the Barma house head stood up and offered a polite nod.

"Now that I'm done, I shall be taking my leave." He turned on his heel to leave but felt his eyes widen with panic when he felt a gentle hand on his arm. Debating whether or not to turn around, he finally gave in and peered back, wondering what on earth the woman could want.

"Boo." She said merrily, as she smacked him once on the forehead with her fan. Covering her mouth with one hand, she watched as her friend stumble backwards and literally tumbled backwards off the balcony and into the rose bushes below. Grabbing the papers off the table and shuffling them in order, the woman hummed a sweet tune as one of her servants appeared. Handing them the papers, her head tilted slightly in the direction of the balcony edge as she spoke. "Poor old Rufus has fallen. I love him dearly, but the poor thing's such a klutz. Could you go check and make sure he's alright?" The servant blinked for a moment before turning to go and do as she asked.

"Oh, and watch out for that fan of his! I doubt that he's in a good mood at the moment!"

* * *

Ack, okay, not fond of this, but we know so little about these two!

Romantic comedy my ass! It's torture on poor little Ruf! D:

-hangs head- Maybe the next request will turn out better. Sorry kim-onka. –hides in emo corner-

Yay for failure? :D

**AND YES, I DO TAKE POEM AND ONE-SHOT REQUESTS NOW! PLEASE GO TO MY PROFILE FOR MORE INFORMATION!**

-PA


End file.
